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ENTRANCE HALL; ROGERS BUILDING. 



MASSACHUSETTS 



Institute of Technology. 






BOSTON. 



A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF ITS FOUNDATION, 
CHARACTER, AND EQUIPMENT 



PREPARED IN CONNECTION WITH 



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BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY THE INSTITUTE. 
1893- 



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37147 



2Enfocrsitg Press: 

John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. 



MASSACHUSETTS 
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. 



T^HE Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a Scientific 

-*• School, or College of Industrial Science, in which are taught 

the sciences and their applications to useful arts, through a very wide 

range. The studies, exercises, and experiments carried on in the 

school are grouped into thirteen four-year courses as follows : — 

COURSES OP INSTRUCTION. 

I. Civil Engineering, including Railroad Engineering, Highway 
Engineering, Bridge Building, and Hydraulic Engineering. 
II. Mechanical Engineering, including Steam Engineering, Mill 
and Locomotive Engineering. 

III. Mining Engineering and Metallurgy. 

IV. Architecture. 
V. Chemistry. 

VI. Electrical Engineering. 

VII. Biology. 

VIII. Physics. 

IX. General Studies. 

X. Chemical Engineering. 

XL Sanitary Engineering. 

XII. Geology. 

XIII. Naval Architecture. 

FOUNDATION. 

The Institute was chartered in 1861, and opened to students in 
1865. Its founder and first President was Dr. William Barton 
Rogers, formerly professor in the University of Virginia, and 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



Director of the Geological Survey of that State. Dr. Rogers died 
in 1882. At the time of his death he was President of the National 
Academy of Sciences. Among Dr. Rogers' co-laborers were some 
of the most eminent men of the time, notably, Dr. Jacob Bige- 
low, James B. Francis, George B. Emerson, Erastus B. Bigelow, 
John D. and Edward S. Philbrick. 

REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION. 

The requirements for admission are substantially the same as the 
requirements for graduation from a good city high school or from 
the English or scientific department of an endowed academy like 
Exeter, Andover, or Easthampton. The examinations embrace 
Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, History, French (or German), 
English Grammar and Composition. 

The average age of the entering class is a little over eighteen and 
a half years. 

DEGREES. 

The degree of Bachelor of Science (S.B.) is given for the success- 
ful completion of any one of the four-year courses. The degrees 
of Master of Science and Doctor of Science are offered for the 
completion of advanced courses of study at the Institute. 

AGRICULTURE. 

It will appear from the list of courses already given that the art 
of Agriculture is not taught at the Institute. The reason is that, 
when Congress passed the Act of July 2, 1862, providing for the 
establishment in each State of at least one College of Agriculture 
and the Mechanic Arts, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, by 
Act of April 27, 1863, constituted the Institute of Technology 
(which had been previously chartered) the College of Mechanic 
Arts for the Commonwealth, and at the same time established a 
college at Amherst to promote the interests of agricultural education. 
But while thus Agriculture is not taught at the Institute as an art, 
the sciences which especially contribute to Agriculture — that is, 
Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Geology — are made the subjects 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 7 



of distinct courses. Moreover, Topography, Irrigation, Drainage, 
Highway Engineering, and Road Making (all of them directly 
tributary to Agriculture) are extensively pursued at the school. 



MILITARY TACTICS. 

In accordance with the requirements of the Act of 1862, the Insti- 
tute gives instruction in Military Tactics, an officer of the regular 
army being detailed for that duty, with the rank of professor. This 
branch of instruction is confined to the first year, three exercises 
being held each week. Arms and equipments are furnished by the 
United States government. In addition to the Gymnasium of the 
Institute, the Cadet Battalion is, by the courtesy of the Common- 
wealth, allowed to drill regularly in the armory of the First Regi- 
ment of Massachusetts Militia. 



GRADUATES OP OTHER COLLEGES. 

The Institute of Technology generally has in its courses between 
forty and fifty graduates of other colleges and scientific schools, who 
come to the Institute to take technical courses. Such students 
sometimes enter the third year, though more commonly they come 
in at the beginning of the second year. Persons taking college 
courses with the purpose of subsequently pursuing technical studies 
at the Institute, would do well to plan their college work with more 
or less reference to this consideration; and with that view are invited 
to correspond with the Secretary of the Institute. 



TEACHERS AT THE INSTITUTE. 

Teachers are admitted to the Institute without examination. For 
those who can only attend in the afternoons and on Saturday forenoon, 
special provision and arrangements are, so far as possible, made to 
enable them to take the courses for which they apply. 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



WOMEN AT THE INSTITUTE. 

The first woman graduate of the Institute was Miss Ellen H. 
Swallow, now Mrs. Robert H. Richards, instructor in Sanitary 
Chemistry, who graduated with the class of 1873. Since that time 
30 women have received the degree of the Institute, some of them 
with distinguished honor. Much larger numbers have received in- 
struction- in partial courses. The number of women students at 
the Institute the present school year is 41, some of them graduates 
of other colleges. 




Margaret Cheney Reading-Room ; Walker Building. 



The departments which women most frequently enter are Chem- 
istry, Physics, Biology, and Architecture. While in the lines indi- 
cated women students almost invariably do good work, it is not 
expected that their number here will greatly increase. The Institute 
of Technology is, by the nature of the case, essentially a man's 
college, though the Corporation and Faculty have seen no reason 
why any person who wishes to do the work of the school, and is 
qualified for it, should be excluded by reason of sex. 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



THE PURPOSE OF THE SCHOOL. 

While the applications of the sciences to the useful arts are ex- 
tensively taught in the Institute of Technology, the primary purpose 
of the school is education. Not only are mere knacks and devices 
and technical methods constantly subordinated to the acquisition of 
principles, but those principles are studied with the predominant 
purpose to expand and develop the mind, to exercise the powers and 




Till 
Fourth Year. Hydraulic Fieldwork Party. 



to train the faculties of the pupil. What the Institute aims to do is 
to graduate those who are, first, well-educated men in all which that 
term implies, and who, secondly, have studied the problems of some 
one technical profession, have mastered the scientific principles re- 
lated thereto, and have had a certain amount of practice in the 
application of those principles to such problems. 

In the four years required for graduation it is sought — 

1. To make the pupil observant, discriminating, and exact. 

2. To develop in him a taste for research and experimentation 
on the one side, and for active exertion on the other. 



io Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

3. To give him the mastery of the fundamental principles of 
mathematics, chemistry, and physics, which underlie the practice of 
all the scientific professions. 

4. To equip him with such an amount of practical and technical 
knowledge, and to make him so familiar with the special problems 
of the particular scientific profession at which he individually aims, 
as to qualify him immediately upon graduation to take a place in 
the industrial order. How far this object has been attained through 
the instruction given in the Institute of Technology, the roll of its 
alumni and their occupations, as contained in the successive annual 
catalogues, will tell. As a rule, the graduates of the Institute readily 
find professional positions where they have an opportunity to show 
what is in them, and to work their way upward as fast as they 
deserve. As a rule, also, the course of the graduate of the Institute 
is one of steady and even rapid promotion. 

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES. 

The characteristic and distinguishing features of the Institute may 
be said to be : — 

1. The great number of its teachers and pupils. It is the 
largest scientific and technical school in the United States, and one 
of the largest in the world. By the catalogue of 1892-93, the 
number of students is 1060, and the number of teachers 125. This 
great body of students come from thirty-nine States and two Terri- 
tories of the Union, and from seventeen foreign countries. 

2. The great variety of its courses, as shown on a preceding 
page. Some schools devote themselves chiefly or solely to Civil 
Engineering ; other schools to Mechanical Engineering ; others 
still to Civil and Mechanical Engineering; some are predomi- 
nately Mining schools. This institution is a school of general 
technology, embracing almost every department of instruction and 
of experimentation which is found in any scientific or technical 
school. It is believed that the several departments of the Massa- 
chusetts Institute of Technology mutually support each other and 
induce a healthful emulation, while allowing a degree of differen- 
tiation and specialization which would be simply impossible in a 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



ii 



small college, with a less numerous staff of instructors. Thus, at 
the Institute of Technology, there are not only professors of Civil 
Engineering and of Mechanical Engineering, but professors or instruc- 
tors in Mechanism, in Steam Engineering, in Railroad Engineering, 
in Highway Engineering, in Hydraulic Engineering, in Topographical 
Engineering, etc. Again, the chemical staff of twenty-two persons 
is distributed over General Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Organic 
Chemistry, Industrial Chemistry, and Sanitary Chemistry. Several 



v 




Third Year. Civil Engineering Field Instruments. 



of these departments have more than one laboratory devoted to their 
experiments and researches. Thus, there are separate laboratories 
for water analysis, for gas analysis, for food analysis, for dyeing and 
bleaching, for organic combustions, etc. In each of these are 
teachers who are able to give their entire time to instruction and 
research in a single line. 

3. The third characteristic of the Institute of Technology is the 
unusually large amount of laboratory work that is carried on. 
Indeed, it was in this school that certain kinds of laboratory work 
were begun. Here the first laboratory of general chemistry was 



12 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

organized by Professors Eliot and Storer. Here the first laboratory 
of general physics was planned by President Rogers, and organ- 
ized by Professor Pickering. Here the first metallurgical laboratory 
equipped for the actual treatment of economic quantities of ore was 
founded by Professor Robert H. Richards. On May 30, 1864, 
while the first building was going up, President Rogers had pro- 
posed a laboratory where the student might " learn practically the 
methods of estimating motors and machines by the dynamometer, of 
experimenting on the flow of water, of air, and other gases, and of 
testing the strength of the materials used in construction ; " and in 
1873, a mechanical engineering laboratory was opened in the 
basement of the Rogers Building, the equipment having been 
planned and set up by Professor Whitaker. This is believed to 
have been the first engineering laboratory ever established. The 
first tests of the transverse strength of full-sized timber beams, as 
part of a scheme of instruction, were those made in the Institute 
Laboratory of Applied Mechanics, under Professor Lanza. The 
Laboratory of Electrical Engineering, under the charge of Professor 
Cross, was the first established, at least in the United States. 

This leadership by the Institute of Technology in the advancement 
of laboratory practice, in the lines mentioned, is significant of the 
spirit which has here, in all departments, whether of Mechanics, of 
Physics, of Engineering, of Chemistry, of Biology, or of Architecture, 
instituted systematic experimental work at nearly every point in 
every course, to illustrate, to enforce, and to supplement the work of 
the recitation-room, the lecture-room, and the drawing-room. But 
while laboratory work is carried so far at the Institute of Technology, 
it is also true that the student is never allowed to lapse into the 
state of mind when he can do nothing but laboratory work, — a 
condition often reached in schools of mere research. This danger 
has been purposely guarded against ; and in each term of his course 
except the last, the student is called back from the moods of the 
laboratory to do good lecture-room and recitation-room work, and 
to give account, clearly and sharply, of what he has been doing in 
the laboratory. 

4. The fourth characteristic of the Institute of Technology to be 
indicated is the high standard of scholarship which has from the 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



13 



first been maintained. The Institute stands with the Military 
Academy at West Point and the Naval Academy at Annapolis, in 
insisting upon the full, actual accomplishment of all its prescribed 
work, as a condition precedent to graduation. This school was 
founded in a confident reliance upon the essential manliness of young 
men, — a belief that, if properly appealed to, and if given work which 
they themselves see to be worth doing, young men can be brought 
to labor with enthusiasm and energy ; and that lowering the standard 






Free-Hand Drawing-Room ; Koge 



RS JOUILDIXG. 



of requirements is not the way to make a school popular any more 
than it is the way to make it useful. The unprecedented resort of 
students to the halls of the Institute affords sufficient proof that in 
this view the founders of the Institute of Technology made no 
mistake. In that spirit the Institute was established, and in that 
spirit it has been unfalteringly maintained, as a place for men to 
work, and not for boys to play. 

5. The fact that, from the foundation of the school, a certain 
amount of general studies has been made part of every course in the 
Institute for at least three years out of the four required for gradua- 



14 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

tion. In some, perhaps most, scientific or technical schools there 
are no " liberal studies " aside from those of a professional character ; 
in other schools there are no such studies after the first year. The 
authorities of the Institute of Technology, however, have uniformly 
maintained the position that some degree of philosophical study 
should be combined with scientific work. 

6. The exceedingly high grade of thesis work which is attained 
in the fourth year. This would be impossible but for the foundation 
laid for it by the manner in which the work of the earlier years is 
done. As an illustration of this feature the Faculty have included 
in the exhibit the theses presented by the graduating class of 
1892, and invite examination of them as affording the best pos- 
sible means of measuring the work of the Institute of Technology. 
The theses shown are presented without revision, and are not to be 
regarded as those of some few superior scholars, but as representing 
the whole work — the poorest as well as the best — of an entire 
class at the end of a four-years course. The theses, being a part of 
the permanent records of the Institute, are necessarily kept under 
cover to preserve them from injury ; but the officer in charge of the 
exhibit will, on application, present them for examination. 

THE BUILDINGS OF THE INSTITUTE. 

The buildings occupied by the Institute are six in number. 
Numerous photographs of these, presenting both exterior and 
interior views, will be found in the Institute exhibit. The two 
buildings first constructed, known severally as the Rogers and the 
Walker Buildings, are situated upon Boylston Street, one of the 
great thoroughfares of Boston, upon land conceded by the Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts. The Rogers Building, completed in 1865, 
named in honor of William Barton Rogers, first President of the 
Institute, is 90 by 156 feet on the ground. Its interior structure is 
somewhat irreo-ular, owino- to the introduction of Huntington Hall : 
but it contains substantially four stories and a basement. It com- 
prises a hall seating nine hundred persons, used for public gather- 
ings and commencement exercises, as well as for lectures of the 
Lowell Institute, numerous lecture-rooms, recitation-rooms, and 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 15 

drawing-rooms in the upper stories, while on the first floor are 
found the departments of Biology and Geology, with the Presi- 
dent's and Secretary's offices, and, in the basement, the John 
Cummings Laboratory of Mining Engineering and Metallurgy. 

The Walker Building, on the same square, at the corner of Claren- 
don Street, built in 1883, has almost precisely the same dimensions 
on the ground as the Rogers Building, and contains four stories and 
a basement. 





Walker and Kogers Buildings. 

The Department of Chemistry occupies, with the Kidder Labora- 
tories and with its recitation and lecture rooms, the two upper stories 
of the building, together with a laboratory for Industrial Chemistry 
in the basement. The Department of Physics occupies the remain- 
der of the basement, the entire first floor, and all the second 
floor not taken by six recitation-rooms for Modern Languages 
and Mathematics. 

In addition to the Rogers and the Walker Buildings, above 
described, two more of the principal structures of the Institute are 
situated upon Trinity Place, distant about six hundred feet from the 



i6 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



main Institute square. Of these, the Engineering Building, erected 
in 1889, is 52 by 148 feet upon the ground, and contains five stories 
and a basement. The basement and first story are occupied by the 
engineering laboratories, the four upper floors being the drawing, 
recitation, and lecture rooms of the Mechanical and the Civil 
Engineering departments. 

Adjoining the Engineering Building is the Architectural Building, 
erected in 1892. This is 58 by 68 feet upon the ground, and, 
like the Engineering Building, contains five stories and a basement, 




Engineering and Architectural Buildings. 



the floors of the two buildings having the same level in each case, 
with communication by doorways. 

In addition to the four buildings mentioned, the Institute has at 
the foot of Garrison Street a series of shops, which, with the boiler 
house and chimney, cover about 24,000 square feet on the ground. 

The last of the buildings to be mentioned is the Gymnasium, 160 
by 50 feet, for athletic and military exercises, besides bath and toilet 
rooms and a due amount of gymnastic apparatus. 

The Institute maintains no dormitories ; its students find homes 
in the city, or in the beautiful suburban towns and cities of the 
Boston Basin. 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 17 



LIBRARIES. 

At the Institute of Technology books are regarded as apparatus 
for immediate use ; and the collections are, therefore, placed in direct 
connection with the several departments. 

There are, in all, eleven separate libraries, with an aggregate num- 
ber of 26,631 volumes. In addition to the card-catalogues of the 
separate libraries, there is a general card-catalogue, showing in which 
library any given book is to be found. 

The most valuable of the Institute libraries is the William Ripley 
Nichols Chemical Library, comprising over 5,000 volumes and 2,000 
pamphlets. The Engineering Library comprises over 4,000 volumes ; 
the Physical Library more than 3,500, and there is a library of 
Political Science, comprising over 5,000 volumes. The Architectural 
Library comprises 1,000 volumes, chiefly illustrated works, and 
6,000 photographs. 

The several libraries are so arranged and conducted that a student 
can consult them with the smallest possible loss of time. The stu- 
dents have free access to the card-catalogues and to the shelves. 
Each library is also used as a reading-room, all the magazines and 
journals belonging to the department being freely accessible. The 
number of periodicals received at the Institute, excluding all annuals, 
is three hundred and sixty-two, forming one of the largest collec- 
tions of scientific journals, magazines, and reviews to be found 
anywhere. 

THE LABORATORIES OP THE INSTITUTE. 

The chief and dominating feature of the Institute of Technology, 
from the material point of view, consists of its numerous large and 
well-equipped laboratories. The buildings of the Institute, in addi- 
tion to all drawing, recitation, and lecture rooms, and libraries, 
comprise eight laboratories or groups of laboratories. These are, — 

I. The Rogers Laboratory of Physics. 
II. The Kidder Chemical Laboratories. 

III. The John Cummings Laboratory of Mining Engineering 
and Metallurgy. 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



IV. The Engineering Laboratories, including the Laboratory 
of Applied Mechanics and the Hydraulic Laboratory. 
V. The Biological Laboratory. 
VI. The Architectural Laboratory. 
VII. The Geological Laboratory. 
VIII. The Mechanical Laboratories, or Workshops. 

The several laboratories may be described in the following 
terms : — 

I. The Rogers Laboratory of Physics comprises seventeen separate 
rooms, all in the Walker Building. 




Laboratory of General Physics ; Walker Building. 



Of these two are lecture-rooms seating 270 and 70 persons 
respectively, the latter being used jointly by the chemical and 
physical departments, and eleven are laboratory rooms. There are 
also the physical library, the apparatus-room, the office of the depart- 
ment, and a study. 

The following are the principal rooms used for laboratory 
instruction : — 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 19 

1. The Laboratory of General Physics, 108 by 29-J feet, on 
the first floor, devoted to instruction in the principles of physical 
measurement. It is supplied with a great variety of apparatus for 
experimental work in Mechanics, Optics, Heat, and Electricity. The 
instruction given in this laboratory is designed particularly to teach 
the student how to use physical measuring apparatus in general, and 
to make him familiar with the methods of determining various physi- 
cal constants. 

2. The Laboratory of Electrical Measurements, also on the 
first floor and of the same size as the preceding, which is devoted 
chiefly to advanced electrical work carried on by the students in Elec- 
trical Engineering, Physics, and Chemistry. In this room will be 
found an extremely large and valuable collection of electrical measur- 
ing apparatus of a character suited for delicate testing. Instruments 
for the determination of electrical resistance and capacity, electro- 
motive force and current, for the calibration of galvanometers, for 
the study of the magnetic properties of iron and steel, are in constant 
use by the more advanced students. Here are also the batteries for 
testing, amounting to nearly 200 cells. Much of this apparatus is 
original in design. A considerable amount of research and thesis 
work is carried on in this laboratory. 

3. The Dynamo-room in the basement, 40 by 40 feet, is provided 
with a Westinghouse engine of 75 horse-power, the sole use of 
which is to furnish the power to drive the plant of dynamos. This 
plant, besides a number of smaller machines, comprises a 500 light 
alternating current Thomson-Houston dynamo, with transformers, a 
150 light Edison dynamo, a 200 light Thomson-Houston direct 
current dynamo, a 60 light Weston dynamo, a 3 arc-light Brush 
dynamo, a United States 300 Ampere low voltage dynamo for elec- 
trolytic work, and a Siemens' alternating arc-light dynamo. Erom 
time to time other large machines are temporarily placed here for 
purposes of study by the students. The wires from this room are 
carried to all parts of the building for experimental purposes, as well 
as for use in illumination. The illuminating circuits are, however, 
capable of instant connection with the mains of the Edison Illuminat- 
ing Co., so that all of the dynamos are available at all times for 
purposes of instruction. The dynamo-room is also furnished with a 



20 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



great variety of apparatus for measurements of the current, electro- 
motive force, and out-put of the dynamo machines. 

4. The Laboratories of Electrical Enginekring comprise : 
A room 83^ by 29^ feet in the basement, devoted especially to 
thesis and other work in dynamo machinery. It contains a cradle 
dynamometer for the mechanical measurement of power consumed by 
dynamo machines, a large ice-calorimeter for testing transformers, a 
500 volt storage battery for purposes of calibration, a closed air- 




Dynamo-Room : Walker Buildixg. 



chamber, 8 by 8 feet, for testing ventilating fans and blowers, and 
several electro-motors of various capacities. Here is also placed 
an extensive collection of railway signalling apparatus used in the 
instruction of the mechanical, civil, and electrical engineering stu- 
dents. In this room much of the testing of electro-motors, in 
connection with thesis work, is carried on. Here is also found a 
photometry room, for the purpose of testing arc and incandescent 
lights, and the workshop of the mechanician of the Rogers Labora- 
tory, used also by the students. 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



21 



A room 36^ by 29 feet, opening from the dynamo-room, is used 
almost entirely for research in connection with the theses. 

5. A room, 61 \ by 29^ feet, also in the basement, contains dark 
rooms fitted up for photographic work, and also an additional pho- 
tometry room. Here also is carried on the laboratory work in heat 
measurements of the students in chemical engineering. The storage 
batteries are also placed here, and such apparatus as is used in testing 
them. Various other electrical experiments are also carried on in this 
room. 




Physical Apparatus : Galvanometers. 



6. The Acoustic Laboratory, 33 by 29-J feet, is situated on the 
second floor. This is designed especially for acoustic and telephonic 
study and research. It is furnished with special telephone and elec- 
tric light and power currents, and a constant-pressure blast. There 
are electro-motors and all other needed facilities for the electrical 
driving of sirens and. like apparatus. In this laboratory is placed 
the extensive collection of acoustic apparatus belonging to the 
Institute. 



22 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

7. The Optical-boom, 29J by 29 feet, adjoins the Acoustic 
Laboratory east and south, and is particularly designed for such 
work as may require the use of sunlight. It is also employed for 
other advanced work as occasion requires. The cabinet of optical 
apparatus is located here. 

8. A room, 23 by 10 feet, on the same floor as the preceding, is 
fitted up for the purpose of the construction and test of resistance 
coils. It contains a constant temperature tank with the standard 
Wheatstone's bridge, and the necessary galvanometers and accessory 
apparatus. 

9. A small room, 16 by 15J feet, opening from the Acoustic 
Laboratory, contains various electro-dynamometers, and like apparatus 
used in connection with measurements upon self-induction. 

II. The Kidder Laboratories of Chemistry in the Walker Building 
comprise eighteen working laboratories, four lecture-rooms, a library 
and reading-room, balance-rooms, offices, and supply rooms, — in all, 
thirty rooms. 

1. The Laboratory of General Chemistry is 84.5 by 39.5 
feet. It has 133 working desks. Under each desk there are three 
complete sets of drawers and cupboards, so that the laboratory has 
accommodations for 400 students. Since the classes in this labora- 
tory are limited to about 50 students working at one time, the three 
students who have a desk in common never interfere with each other. 
The actual number of students working in this laboratory during the 
year 1892-93 was 385. 

This laboratory is for beginners in chemistry, and the exercises 
during the first term of the first year are designed not only to make 
the student familiar with chemical manipulation, and to teach him 
fundamental chemical facts, but also to train him in accurate habits 
of observation. In the second term of the first year, the elements of 
qualitative analysis are taught in this laboratory. 

2. The Laboratory oe Analytical Chemistry is likewise 84.5 
by 39.5 feet. It has 108 desks, 4.8 feet long, and each desk is pro- 
vided with cupboards and drawers in wmich a large amount of 
apparatus can be stored. 

These laboratories of General and Analytical Chemistry are on the 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



23 



fourth (top) floor of the Walker Building, and each is lighted on 
three sides by 23 windows. The rooms are 17 feet high, and have 
large sky-lights in the roof. They are provided with all the perma- 
nent fittings found in modern chemical laboratories for accurate and 
rapid work. The Analytical Laboratory is provided also with suit- 
able electrical currents and apparatus for electro-chemical analysis. 
The ventilation of these laboratories (as in all the rooms of the 
Walker Building) is effected by forcing in moderately warmed air by 




Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry: Walker Building. 



a powerful fan in the basement. The outlet of this air in the labora- 
tories is through the hoods which line the walls. The amount of air 
passing through the laboratories is such as to secure a total change 
once m seven minutes. In consequence of this unusually perfect 
ventilation it is possible to conduct, without annoyance or injury, 
many chemical operations in the open laboratory, which in most 
chemical laboratories must be confined to closed hoods. In this 
laboratory there is a unique evaporator designed by Mr. S. H. Wood- 
bridge, of the Institute, in which evaporations of water and other 



24 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

liquids can be very rapidly performed. It consists of a combination 
of a steam bath and a current of warm air. 

3. Adjoining the Analytical Laboratory is a room, 31.6 by 
11.7 feet, used exclusively for volumetric analysis. In this room, 
which is painted entirely in white, :21 students can work at the same 
time. 

4. The Organic Laboratory, also on the fourth floor, is 29.2 by 
36 feet. It has desks for 26 students, and is provided with all the 
conveniences and delicate apparatus required for work in organic 
chemistry. Adjoining is a laboratory, 6 by 26 feet, arranged exclu- 
sively for organic combustions. It has all the requisite fittings for 
gas, oxygen, blast, and suction to operate five furnaces at one time. 
On the roof above the Organic Laboratory is an enclosed room, 19. 7 
by 23 feet, in which chemical operations of a dangerous or noxious 
character can be performed. 

Four small laboratories. 17.5 by 14.5 feet each, are also on the 
fourth floor, for the use of the staff of instruction. 

5. The Balance-room, communicating directly with the Ana- 
lytical and Organic Laboratories, is 12.2 by 32 feet ; it contains 2.2 
high-grade analvtieal balances. 

6. Sanitary Chemistry. There are two laboratories on the 
third floor, respectively 39.3 by 39.5 feet, and 37.3 by 29.5 feet. 
The instruction in Sanitary Chemistry comprises the examination of 
food products, such as flour, butter, milk, and the analysis of air 
and water, and the study of sanitary problems. In these labora- 
tories, under the charge of the head of the chemical department 
and the instructor in Sanitary Chemistry, has been conducted the 
great investigation of the Massachusetts Board of Health into the 
natural waters of the State. In the course of this investigation, 
which is still in progress, there have been analyzed, since 1SS7, over 
10,000 samples of water. 

7. The Laboratory eor Gas Analysis occupies a room, 25.5 by 
10.5 feet, partitioned off from one of the Sanitary Laboratories. It 
contains a collection of the best modern apparatus for the analysis 
■of gases. The instruction in this department includes an extended 
course in gas analysis for students of Chemistry, and a shorter course 
for the students in Mechanical Engineering. The great importance 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



25 



which attaches to the economic utilization of fuel renders the 
course in the analysis of furnace gases particularly valuable to the 
engineer. 

8. Three chemical laboratories on the third floor are provided for 
the head of the department of Chemistry, for the Professor of Or- 
ganic Chemistry, and for the Professor of Industrial Chemistry, who 
is the head of the department of Chemical Engineering. These three 
laboratories, which are respectively 37.3, 24.3, and 18.3 by 29.5 




Laboratory of Sanitary Chemistry ; Walker Building. 



feet, are used also by students engaged, directly under the pro- 
fessors, in original investigation. 

9. The Laboratories oe Industrial Chemistry comprise a 
large room in the basement for the manufacture of chemicals on a 
semi-industrial scale, and a laboratory for textile coloring on the 
third floor. The first mentioned is a room 59 by 29.5 feet, which 
contains kettles of various patterns, stills, presses, tanks, centrifugal 
dryers, filter presses, crystal dryers, etc. The laboratory of textile 
coloring, 39.3 by 29.5 feet, contains a large number of jacketed 
kettles, baths, and dye tubs, squeeze rolls, steamer, ager, and drier, 



26 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



and a two-color printing-machine. It is provided with arc-lights 
for working after dark. 

10. A room, 39 by 14 feet, on the second floor, is fitted for 
the special purpose of instruction in the optical analysis of sugar. 

There is a large and readily accessible store-room, 25 2 bv 29.5 
feet, on the third floor, for chemicals and apparatus, another in the 
basement, and two supply-rooms on the fourth floor. Two under- 
ground vaults, respectively 37 by 9 feet, and 60 bv 32.5 feet, are 




Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry; Walker Building. 



provided for the storage of apparatus in original packages, for carboys, 
inflammable liquids, etc. 

The Chemical Library and Reading-room, 32 by 17 feet, is situated 
between the Analytical and Organic Laboratories on the fourth floor. 

The principal chemical lecture-room is 45 by 40.5 feet, and is 
fitted with 220 rising seats. Another lecture-room, 28 by 21 feet, 
has seats for 40, and a third room, for still smaller classes, accom- 
modates 10 students. A lecture-room, 35 by 25.5 feet, with a 
seating capacity of 65, is used by both the chemical and physical 
departments. 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



27 



III. The John Cummings Laboratory of Mining Engineering and Met- 
allurgy, in the basement of the Rogers Building, comprises labora- 
tories for milling, for concentrating, and for smelting ores, as well 
as for testing them by an assay and by the blowpipe, and a library 
comprising the most important literature of the subject. 





Smelting Laboratory: Watching for the Blick. 



The Blowpipe-room, 28 by 32.5 feet, is provided with tables for 
24 students, and with the apparatus and supplies, balances, reagents, 
water, and gas, needed for the determination of minerals, as well as 
for the assay of silver by the blowpipe. 

The Boom for Assaying is 28.3 by 35.65 feet, and contiguous 
with it is a balance-room, 13.6 by 16.7 feet, for fine balances. This 
laboratory is supplied with desks for fifty students, although only ten 
work at a time. There are ten crucible furnaces, seven muffles, with 



28 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

the necessary stock of ore samples, ore and reagent balances, as well 
as line button balances. 

The Milling-room is 91.7 by 27.9 feet, and can be used by a 
class of fifteen students. It is supplied with fine apparatus for mill- 
ing gold and silver ores by the various processes of amalgamation, 
lixiviation, and chlorination. This laboratory is also well provided 
with the machinery for concentrating gold, silver, copper, lead, and 
zinc ores, and has a complete plant for experimenting on the deposit- 
ing and refining of metals by electricity. 

The Smelting-room is 55 by 35.7 feet, and large enough for a 
class of fifteen students. This laboratory has complete apparatus 
for roasting and smelting ores, and refining metals in quantities of 
from 500 to 6,000 lbs., according to the process. 

The most noteworthy parts are the water-jacket furnace and the 
Bruckner roasting cylinder. Attached to the laboratory are : — 

1. A Library, 22.6 by 15.5 feet, containing over 3,000 volumes, includ- 

ing all the prominent mining and metallurgical periodicals in 
English, French, and German. 

2. A Private Laboratory, 16.7 by 14.2 feet, for chemical and physical 

experiments on ores. 

3. A Supply-room, 15.8 by 10 feet, for small apparatus and chemicals. 

4. An Office for the instructors. 

5. A Toilet-room, 21.5 by 20 feet, with abundant supply of water, and 

with a hanging closet for each student in the department. 

IV. The Engineering Laboratories occupy the two lower floors of 
the Engineering Building on Trinity Place, and comprise labora- 
tories of steam engineering, of hydraulics, a laboratory for testing 
the strength of materials, and a room containing cotton machinery. 

The laboratories of steam and hydraulics occupy a portion of the 
lower floor, 50 by 100 feet, and the central portion of the floor above, 
50 by 70 feet. The heavier pieces of apparatus and those requiring 
special foundations are placed on the lower floor. 

1. The Steam Laboratory. The most prominent feature of 
this is the 9, 16, and 24 by 30 inch, ALUs triple-expansion engine, 
having a capacity of about 150 horse-power when running triple, 
with 150 lbs. initial pressure in the high-pressure cylinder. This 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



29 



engine is arranged so that any cylinder may be used single, or 
compound with either of the others. Also, each cylinder may be 
jacketed, wholly or in part, and the receiver may also be jacketed. 
The engine is connected with a large surface-condenser and other 
apparatus necessary to adapt it to the purposes of accurate 
experiment. 




Engineering Laboratory: An Engine Test. 



The laboratory also contains a 16 horse-power Harris-Corliss 
engine and an 8 horse-power engine used for giving instruction in 
valve-setting. In addition to these, there is a great variety of appa- 
ratus, including condensers, calorimeters, injectors and ejectors, steam 
pumps, etc., directly connected with studies in steam, also apparatus 
for testing the efficiency of transmission of power and for measuring 
the power transmitted. 



30 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



All the apparatus is arranged for experimental purposes ; and 
each student takes some part in the experiments on each piece of 
apparatus. The results of each test are calculated by each student, 
and also by the instructors in charge. Many of the tests not only 
give the student training but contribute to scientific knowledge. 




Hydraulic Laboratory : Engineering Building. 



2. The Hydraulic Laboratory contains a closed tank, 5 feet in 
diameter and 27 feet high, extending from the basement under 
the lower floor to the upper part of the room on the second floor. 
This is connected with a stand-pipe, 10 inches in diameter and over 
70 feet high, so arranged that the water may be maintained at any 
desired point, glass gauges along the stand-pipe serving to measure 
the height. The stand-pipe is connected with a steam pump, with 
a rotary pump, and with the city supply. On the sides of the large 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 31 

tank are the connections for the various hydraulic apparatus, includ- 
ing apparatus for measuring the flow over weirs ; through various 
sizes and shapes of orifices ; through hose-nozzles ; through different 
sizes of pipe, with the several varieties of obstructions that occur, — 
namely, diaphragms, couplings, elbows, T's, bends, valves, etc. Also 
connected with the tank, or with a centrifugal pump, is a Swain 
Turbine, so arranged that measurements can be made of the 
power transmitted under various heads and with different openings 
of gate. 

The water used in the various hydraulic apparatus is conducted 
to a well in the basement, from which the pumps of the laboratory 
obtain their supply. 

This laboratory also contains a Venturi meter, a Worthington 
meter, a Pelton water-motor, a hydraulic ram, a steel calibrating 
tank of 280 cubic feet capacity, Pitot tube apparatus for measuring 
the distribution of velocity in pipes and jets, and instruments for 
measuring the exact size of jets. The laboratory is also equipped 
with a variety of mercury gauges, weirs, standard orifices, mouth- 
pieces, diaphragms, nozzles, etc., for experiments with flowing water 
under all conditions. 

As in the steam laboratory, tests are carried on by the students, each 
one having some part in all, and calculating the results. 

3. The Laboratory tor testing the Strength of Materials 
occupies, on the first floor, 50 by 50 feet, and a room of the same 
size, directly above, on the second floor. It contains an Emery 
testing-machine of a capacity of 300,000 pounds, capable of contain- 
ing a compression piece eighteen feet long, and a tension piece 
twelve feet long ; also an Olsen testing-machine, with a capacity of 
50,000 pounds, and a variety of other apparatus for testing the 
tensile and compression strength of materials, — steel, wrought 
iron, cast iron, rope, wire, hydraulic cement, etc., and the trans- 
verse strength of iron and wood beams up to twenty-five feet in 
length. 

These tests are all conducted on a practical scale, and many have 
contributed largely to our knowledge of the strength of materials as 
used in construction. In addition to the regular prescribed course 
of instruction in the laboratories, a large amount of original investiga- 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



tion is carried on by the students in the fourth year in connection 
with the thesis work. 

4. A room on the second floor, 50 by 30 feet, contains cotton 
machinery, — namely, card, drawing-frame, speeder, fly-frame, ring 
spinning-frame, and mule. These machines are used by the students 
in the second term of the second year as examples of complicated 
mechanisms, and are studied as such in connection with the previous 





*-*; rw *W«r- 3 



\T 



Applied Mechanics Laboratory. 
The Fairbanks Testing-machine. 



course in the elements of mechanism. They are also used by the 
students taking the option of Mill Engineering, in connection with a 
study of the processes of cotton-spinning, and especially for experi- 
mental work in connection with theses. 



V. The Biological Laboratory of the Institute occupies a large 
room, 30 by 90 feet, on the first floor of the Rogers Building, ex- 
tending across the entire end of the building, on the Newbury Street 
side, with large windows opening mainly to the north. 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



33 



The laboratory, as a whole, is devoted to the practical examination 
and investigation of the physical, chemical, and physiological aspects 
of those problems concerning living organisms which naturally fall 
within the scope of a scientific institution. The most important 
courses carried on in the laboratory are : — 

1. Microscopy, for which special provision is made in a large 
supply of working instruments. Every student is provided with one 





Biological Laboratory; Rogers Building. 



of these, and becomes accustomed to its use under expert supervision 
in examinations of starches, sands, cotton, silk, wool, and other fibres ; 
yeasts, adulterated foods, etc. 

2. General Biology. That portion of the laboratory devoted to 
the work in Elementary Biology (including General Biology, General 
Zoology, and General Botany) contains places for twenty students. 



34 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

The equipment of representative material, of charts, of dissecting and 
microscopical apparatus, and of all necessary instruments, is ample, 
and well adapted to develop personal skill in the student as well as 
the pow r er of close and accurate observation. 

3. Comparative Anatomy and Embryology. For the numerous 
and detailed dissections and the carefully prepared specimens re- 
quired in these subjects there is special provision. Here also are 
places for twenty students, with large tables for the prepared material 
and with refrigerators for fresh material. 

4. Physiology and Histology. For the actual appreciation of 
the actions and reactions of organisms, for the study of their effects 
and of their powers, a great deal of apparatus, as well as much labor 
on the part of the student, is required. That section of the Bio- 
logical Laboratory devoted to these subjects is, therefore, essentially 
a workshop, provided with instruments, and having places for 
ten students. Here the student learns the technique of tissue- 
dyeing, of ribbon sectioning, of electrical dealings with muscle and 
nerve ; the hydraulics of the circulation ; artificial digestions and 
the separation of soluble ferments ; and the physiology of optics 
and acoustics. 

5. Micro-Organisms and Bacteriology. The most important 
feature of the biological laboratory work is the opportunity offered for 
thorough practical acquaintance with the lower and obscurer forms 
of life. These are not only of great general interest, but of immense 
and increasing economic importance. Vast industries, connected 
with food-preserving, canning, vinegar-making, and the like ; im- 
portant public affairs, such as water supply and milk supply; 
sanitary interests, such as efficient ventilation, dust-destruction, 
garbage-disposal, and mere cleanliness, — these and many more con- 
ditions profoundly affecting the welfare of the community depend 
in the last analysis for their scientific administration upon an 
acquaintance with moulds, ferments, fungi, algae, bacteria, and other 
low forms of life. For the study of these the laboratory is thor- 
oughly equipped with special microscopes and objectives, thermo- 
stats, culture-rooms, etc. Here the students learn how to prepare 
culture media ; to plant, to collect, to separate, identify, and 
describe species ; to test the value of germicides and antiseptics ; 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



35 



to examine and test natural waters ; to discover, enumerate, and 
classify the microscopical organisms in reservoirs, rivers or lakes, 
and in sewage. A portion of the biological work of the State 
Board of Health of Massachusetts is also carried on in this 
laboratory. 

VI The Architectural Laboratory. The laboratory in the basement 
of the Architectural Building has its floor directly on the concrete, 




Architectural Drawing-Room. 



and has a clear height of 17^ feet; is 52 feet long, and 25 feet 
wide. This height allows an effective system of plumbing, for test- 
ing purposes, to be set up. On a four-inch main are arranged four 
offsets, in the same relative position as they are placed in regular 
house plumbing. This scheme is intended to show the effect upon 
traps of a solid column of water as it passes down the main. There 
is also placed near the ceiling a tank with an inch and a half out- 
let. This is used in testing the regular inch and a half wastes with 
their traps. The four-inch main is fifty-five feet long, and on 
top of it is a reservoir holding seven hundred gallons of water. In 



36 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

this laboratory are carried on the experiments and tests in limes, 
cements, etc., and practical lessons are given in the mixing of mortars. 
The coarse in clay-modelling is also given here. At one end of this 
room is the engine and fan used for the heating and ventilation of the 
building. 

VII. The Geological Laboratories. 

1. The Laboratory of Mineralogy, Lithology, Structural 
Geology, and Economic Geology, Room 12, Rogers Building. 

Capacity, 36 students. 

The apparatus used in this laboratory includes two lithologic 
microscopes, a reflecting goniometer, three hand-goniometers, dichro- 
scope, clinometer, specific gravity balances, zoetrope, etc. ; also a 
complete series of crystal models, of glass and wood, about 400 in 
all, about 125 crystallographic charts, and about 175 charts illus- 
trating structural geology ; a series of wooden models illustrating 
geologic structure, etc. 

The collection of specimens forming part of the laboratory equip- 
ment is quite extensive, embracing : — 

(a) About 250 trays of minerals specially prepared for laboratory 
work, amounting to nearly 4,000 specimens ; (6) 40 examination 
trays of minerals, containing 1,000 specimens ; (c) A students' refer- 
ence collection of minerals, — 1,000 specimens in a case of 24 
drawers ; (d) A systematic collection of minerals, filling 35 drawers 
and 2 cases of shelves ; (e) 160 trays of rocks specially prepared for 
laboratory work in lithology, containing 1,920 specimens ; (/) 60 
examination trays of rocks, containing about 600 specimens ; (y) A 
students' reference collection of rocks of 250 specimens in 12 
drawers, (7i) A systematic lecture collection of rocks, filling 32 drawers 
and a set of shelves ; (i) 400 thin sections of rocks for the microscope ; 
(j) 40 drawers and one glass case of specimens illustrating structural 
geology ; {k) About forty dressed blocks of building stones, and 
nearly 200 specimens of polished marble and other ornamental 
stones ; (/) An extensive collection of ores and other economic 
minerals, filling 80 drawers and 25 feet of glass case. 

2. A room in the basement is used in part for the blowpipe work 
in Determinative Mineralogy. It is supplied with tables, Bunsen- 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 37 

burners, agate mortars, and other accessory apparatus accommodating 
classes of twenty-four students each. 

The minerals used are arranged in ten series of specimens, repre- 
senting sixty species in each, and classified in eighty wooden trays. 

3. The Geological Library and Laboratory, Room 14, Rogers 
Building. This room is likewise used as a recitation-room for a few 
of the smaller and more advanced classes. It contains the Rogers 
Geological Library of about thirteen hundred bound volumes and 
several hundred pamphlets ; also, the current numbers of eight of 
the leading serial publications. In the cases are two hundred 
drawers of specimens of fossils and rocks, stratigraphically arranged. 
There is also an exhibition case of specimens arranged in like 
manner, and a case of eighteen large drawers filled with maps, sec- 
tions, and drawings. The room is well supplied with tables at 
which students pursue their studies in stratigraphical palaeontology 
and micro-hthology. Geological maps and sections are drawn, and 
field notes are revised, and the results of investigations are here 
prepared for final presentation. 

VIII. The Mechanical Laboratories, or Workshops. A separate cir- 
cular has been printed in connection with the exhibit of the Insti- 
tute, giving a statement of the system of instruction in the Mechanic 
Arts, and an account of the workshops, or mechanical laborato- 
ries, and their equipment, which it is not necessary to repeat here. 

ENDOWMENT. 

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is unfortunately still 
an unendowed institution, in the sense that its receipts from invested 
property constitute but a very small part of the means required to 
carry on the service of the school. 

First and last, about a million and a half dollars have been given 
or bequeathed to the school, some part of which it has been abso- 
lutely necessary to use for current maintenance. Of the amount 
mentioned, the State of Massachusetts gave $200,000, one half of 
which was free of conditions, the other half being for the support of 
free scholarships. 



38 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



The two principal contributors to the funds of the Institute in its 
earlier days were Dr. Win. J. Walker and Mr. Ralph Huntington. 
The principal contributors of late years have been Messrs. George 
B. Dorr, Richard Perkins, Jerome S. Kidder, Mrs. Henry Edwards, 
and Mrs. Catherine P. Perkins. 

The amount of income-yielding property held by the Institute is 
$504,403.75, The buildings occupied by the Institute stand on 
the books of the Treasurer at §707,926.85 ; the land at §127,155.69. 




Architectural Department ; Free-Haxd Drawing-Class. 

In addition to the land thus held m fee, the Institute enjoys the 
right of perpetual occupancy, by grant from the Commonwealth 
of Massachusetts, of the land upon which the Rogers and Walker 
Builclino;s stand. 

The equipment of the several buildings and their laboratories, in- 
cluding the libraries, the accumulations of twenty-eight years, repre- 
sents an expenditure of probably about §200,000. 

The net annual income from invested funds is about 825,000. 



LBJen6 



Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



39 



The income from students' fees last year (1891-92) was 
$185,873.77. 

The Institute receives one third of the national grants to the 
State of Massachusetts under the United States Acts of 1862 and 
1890, amounting at present to about $12,000 a year. 

It has also a certain income from rents and other sources, making 
the total receipts (1891-92) $264,285.78. 

The expenditures for the same year amounted to $267,547.90, 
leaving a deficit for the year of a little over $3,000. Of the total 
expenditures $180,667.94 was for salaries. 




Tests on Ventilating Fans. 



For catalogues and information, address Dr. H. W. Tyler, Secretary, 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Mass. 



it , ^n. RY 0F CONGRESS 



II* 

030 008 444 8 



